diff --git a/litellm/llms/azure/common_utils.py b/litellm/llms/azure/common_utils.py
index 54352148c5e..dfe662cc165 100644
--- a/litellm/llms/azure/common_utils.py
+++ b/litellm/llms/azure/common_utils.py
@@ -672,6 +672,10 @@ class BaseAzureLLM(BaseOpenAILLM):
     ) -> dict:
         litellm_params = litellm_params or GenericLiteLLMParams()
 
+        # Check if api-key is already in headers; if so, use it
+        if "api-key" in headers:
+            return headers
+
         api_key = (
             litellm_params.api_key
             or litellm.api_key